Chapter Text
Beginning one’s Pokémon journey and going through the Gym Challenge is every kid’s dream, in the small town of Postwick that couldn't be more true. It was home to the current champion, Leon, and his younger brother Hop, who dreamed of doing exactly what his brother had done and become the champion. But instead of starting when he turned ten like his brother, Hop waited until he and his neighbors were sixteen. That was when their mother had agreed to let her two kids go out and explore the region, so Hop waited for Victor and Gloria. Leon brought home three Pokémon when Hop turned 16, so he and his friends could start their journey together.
It was these three teenagers from Postwick who were the first to be endorsed by Leon, and they’d be the last people he’d endorse as champion.
Gloria remembered the first time the three of them walked into the stadium at Motostoke to register for the gym challenge. The room was filled with about twenty other people who were here to do the same thing, go through the gym challenge. The league member who had been assigned to register gym challengers was shocked to see that the champion had not only endorsed someone for the first time but that he was seeing three at once all he said to them was that they must be something special.
It felt like the two boys had their numbers picked out long before they'd all arrived, Hop registered as number 189 and Victor chose number 808. Which left the staff member looking at Gloria expectantly except unlike the boys she hadn't considered any number she would want to be attached to her during the gym challenge. "uh 3," she looked over at Victor, "03." Three had always been her go-to number it was their birth month, normally she would say her birthdate when asked for a number but the others didn't choose their birthdays as their number so it felt odd to be the only one to do that so instead, she did what Victor had done repeat the number with a zero sandwiched between.
This really made her feel unprepared for the whole gym challenge and it hadn't even begun yet. While the others had their number pre-planned and ready to go Gloria had to stumble upon her own. "all alright, you three are all registered the opening ceremony will be held here tomorrow, before the ceremony all gym challengers will be taking their photo for their league card and all trainers have been booked a room at the Budew Drop Inn. Good luck on your challenge trainers."
"Let's go check in next door, race you there." Hop had begun running off by the time Victor fully heard the statement he took off after Hop to try and beat him there. Gloria turned from the desk to follow after them but stopped upon seeing a boy around her age standing there waiting to register. He had bleach blonde hair that was tightly curled which almost made him look like a Wooloo and he wore a magenta coat on with purple accents that matched his violet eyes. He just stared at Gloria, "excuse me, I still need to register," she nodded and stepped aside, "of course, I um like your jacket." He nods back at her, "thank you."
When she made it to the hotel the boys were in the lobby standing with Sonia and they were all looking at a statue of the fabled hero that was said to have saved the Galar region. She stood next to Victor to hear Sonia telling the legend of The Darkest Day. The statue begged for everyone's attention the tip of the sword the hero held nearly touched the ceiling, and at the center of the sword's hilt was a bright blue gem on the shield the hero held in his other hand was a red gemstone. The statue itself appeared to have been made of gold although it was probably just a metal coating but didn't make it look any less beautiful. This was the hero who saved Galar from a black storm that was said to have engulfed the entire sky, a real hero to be revered. So why was this statue in a hotel it felt out of place.
Was it just here to mock all the trainers that would end up coming through during their gym challenge, "You all are staying here at the hotel tonight though, shouldn't you be checking in?" Gloria turned immediately to walk to the desk while the boys said goodbye to Sonia. There was a group of four teens all with their hair dyed a bright magenta, they all wore matching grey jean jackets but their sleeves were torn off and each person had their own unique design on the back of their vest. One girl had a grey jean skirt and bright magenta tights, the other had black jean shorts on over her ripped pink tights. The guy who was talking to the hotel worker had black pants that were studded along the side seam of the pants, the other guy had grey distressed jeans that were tucked into his boots. She walked over to one of the girls, "excuse me," she turned around and smiled at me, "we came all this way to cheer on the gym challengers, you're in for a battle if you want to stop us."
Gloria held her hands up and laughed, "no, no, no, I'm just here to check into the hotel."
The other girl turns around, "while Team Yell's all about helpin' but that'd be helpin' one very special trainer in the challenge that is."
"If you're checkin' into this hotel that means you're another trainer, we don't want you interferin' with our trainer," Gloria nods with a smile, "of course, consider me out of their way but can I check-in please."
"I wasn't expecting checking in would be such a big fuss Gloria," Hop stood next to her with a bright smile on his face, Victor was smiling next to him and she knew he was about to make a joke at her lack of ability to check into a hotel. But the guy who had been speaking to the hotel worker turned around, "who are you?"
He stood up straight, "I'm Hop, one of this year's Gym Challengers, and I'm the one who's gonna be the next champion." Maybe it was his confidence, or maybe it was because of who Hop was but this idea would become popular outside of the gym challenge.
"what are you lot doin' 'ere?" A girl with black pigtails that were tied back with maroon ribbons that matched her bag the color of her bag, she also had on a leather jacket which was studded along the collar that matched her black boots which were studded along the front but she wore a pale pink dress under the jacket which contrasted with her turquoise green eyes. "Marnie!" She saw all the people who had been huddling at the desk turn to the girl, she looked over to see her brother staring at the girl who had appeared behind them.
Based on her aesthetic she wouldn't have thought she'd be someone her brother would fancy but the dumbfounded look on his face said it all, at the very least he found this girl attractive. She had a Morpeko walking beside her as she came over to the group of teenagers.
Gloria found the dumb face her brother was making more interesting than what the punks behind her had been saying, "I know you all are terribly curious 'bout the other challengers but you gotta show a bit of restraint."
She turned to Gloria and the boys and sighed, "sorry 'bout them, they're just a bunch of my fans, call themselves Team Yell and follow me around, cheerin' for me an' all." Turning to people behind them she spoke up again, "an' back home you lot."
Her gaze followed them as they walked out of the building, before turning back to the three trainers, "sorry they're just so caught up with wantin' to support me and they tend to get a bit, shirty other challengers sorry if they caused you any trouble."
Hop looked like he was about to respond when Victor cut in, "of course it wasn't a problem at all. I mean you're popular, pretty, and a trainer, no wonder you already have fans of your own." There was a light dusting of pink on Marnie's face, "well it seems I could say that 'bout you."
He smiles, "oh this is my sister, Gloria, and my friend Hop," she nods, "well it's nice to meet you all, I'll see you three at the opening ceremony tomorrow."
The next day when she came down to the lobby Hop was there practicing how he would throw his Pokeballs though it's something he's been doing his whole life, he's modeled it after the way Lee threw his Pokemon into battle. As though Gloria needed to have how unprepared she was thrown back in her face, this was another thing to add to her list of things she hadn't considered. How she'll do everything, the pre-battle stuff, how you throw your ball, what you say, people care about that and it had flown over her head.
"Morning," he stops and turns to smile at Gloria, "so this is it my legend begins and I'm gonna beat you to the stadium," she laughs, "can't we just walk there, it's early," he nods, "Victor already left, he walked with Marnie there."
They began to head down the steps when Gloria spoke up, "he's got it bad for her," Hop looked over at her tilting his head to the side, "he obviously likes her," he nods but he hadn't picked up on what Gloria was referring to at all. It was a short walk to the stadium the hotel was on the same block as the stadium, which must make it a pain to stay there during the gym season when there are Dynamax battles going on all day. They headed to the counter to pick up our uniforms for the gym challenge before the two split up to the separate locker rooms to change into their uniforms.
She was able to put her bag and clothes into a free locker. The uniform was mostly white, along the sides of the shirt and the shorts were a blue, grey and red stripe, on the left leg of the shorts was the number, 303 and on the right leg near the waistband of the shorts was a small logo for the gym challenge. The shirt had long sleeves with a dark grey cuff at the end of the sleeves and the shirt had a collar which was the same dark gray, over the shoulders were blue bars which helped to break up the sea of white fabric. On the center of the shirt was the gym challenge logo and at the top of the right sleeve was the logo for the Galar Pokemon league, on the center of the back of the shirt was her league number. The glove was white with blue accents, which aided in setting challengers apart because the gym leaders' gloves were gray with the accent color being that of the gym. During the official matches, gym challengers had to wear red and white sneakers with white knee-high socks.
She headed back out into the lobby to see all the other challengers wearing the same uniform with the only difference between all of them being the number they wore. Except for the guy from yesterday who was wearing his magenta jacket over the gym uniform he was probably the one person who was wearing anything not part of the uniform with it.
The trainers were rushed throughout the process of taking photos for their league card, the backdrop was the usual pattern used by the league blue with red and white alternating stripes with diamonds on the lines. But that was it, if the trainers wanted to then make league cards they’d have to go to a Rotomi terminal, it was nice at least to have a photo for the card.
Being there for the opening ceremony was unlike seeing it on tv on one side of the pitch was where the gym leaders were waiting in the wings for their cue from chairmen Rose to go onto the field. The challengers were on the other side, being walked through like children, and the league staff was there to walk them through the whole process and make sure they didn’t do something wrong or something that would disrupt the entire ceremony.
It was weird not being able to see what was going on they could only hear what was being said over the intercom but that was their only way of knowing what was going on. Once all of the gym leaders had been introduced the league staff motioned for the trainers to walk out onto the pitch, all they had to do was line up on the pitch opposite of the trainers then smile and wave as chairmen Rose officially began the gym challenge for this year.
What they don’t tell the challengers is how bright the lights shining down on the pitch are, all pointed at the people who walk out of the tunnel, or how the ceiling above the tunnel moves as fans in the stadium jump with anticipation. The fans are their own thing, all screaming, and shouting, begging for attention, many have posters that they want to be read by those on the pitch. It was all so much going on that it was sensory overload.
Gloria stopped just shy of the lines that marked the pitch so she could look around the field, other challengers walked past her to their position on the field, she was only brought out of her daze when the guy with the magenta jacket bumped into her so she continued to where they had to be for the ceremony.
She tuned out the rest of the ceremony, only moving when the people around her did because she hadn’t caught the fact it was over. Instead of going to the lobby which was flooded with people who were leaving the ceremony. The girls' locker room was a tizzy with people changing into their normal clothes and talking.
Once she got changed she folded her gym uniform and stuffed it into her bag before heading out into the lobby to meet up with Hop and her brother. Hop was bouncing as he talked to Victor and when she came over he continued talking until Leon came over with chairmen Rose at his side. “So you’re the trainers our champion endorsed himself, it’s a delight to meet you!”
Gloria nodded along but began to tune him out watching the people who were left but across the room was the guy in the magenta jacket glaring at the three trainers. Now that she knew she was being watched she couldn’t turn her attention away from him. Until her line of sight was cut off by the chairmen walking away, she turned back to Leon who was still there smiling at the three teenagers.
“The chairmen certainly seemed to be in high spirits, now listen here you’ve all only just started on your path as trainers, if you want to win you need to do more than just train your Pokémon. You need to train yourselves too.”
Hop pumped his fist, “let’s do it, let’s head to Turffield immediately.”
Leon laughed, “well at least eat something while you three are here in Motostoke before heading off.”
“We can go to the cafe by the Pokéstop, and then we can go and make our league cards.”
Gloria had the short walk to think over the league card. People would put a short bio about them on the back. What was there to say she had been endorsed alongside her twin brother and neighbor, the champion's brother. Maybe she could put that she was only able to take part in the gym challenge because of who her neighbor was. But Hop went first because he knew exactly what to write, this was something he’s thought about for years. He printed multiple and gave one to both Gloria and Victor while the rest were in his bag.
She stood behind her brother looking over his shoulder as he wrote his entry, he started it off like Hop, ‘This Pokémon Trainer got endorsed to take part in the Gym Challenge by the reigning Champion’ but then it changed, ‘along with his twin sister Gloria, he hopes to go all the way through the challenge with his sister by his side, but if it came down to it he believes she would beat him every time. Nothing would make him more proud than to see him and his sister at the end of this.’
”Don’t print that.” He turned to her and laughed, “oh if you don’t like it then I’m definitely printing it.”
“No, say something different and don’t talk about me.” He clicked the print button and waited for the machine to spit out the cards, it would print ten at a time so it took a minute for them to all be done. “I meant it,” stepping aside he leans on the side of the machine, “so, what are you gonna put?”
That was the million-dollar question, “I don’t know,” the screen of the machine was back on the start screen, Gloria grabbed the cards and looked at them, Victor was smiling at the camera with his arms crossed over his chest, it had the standard overlay at the bottom for challengers, it was a dark grey with a stripe of color that the trainer got to pick, ad Victor picked a vibrant red.
She grabbed one of them and held the rest out to her brother, “Hey you didn’t ask if you take one!”
Gloria laughed as she put it in the pocket of her cardigan, “I’m your sister I don’t have to ask for permission,” he groans while taking the rest, “it’s polite to ask!” She stared at the terminal for a second before starting it up and inputting her information so she could make the card, it looked just like the others, her uniform number was in the bottom left corner of the card, on the top right corner was the logo of the Galar Pokémon League, and she was able to select the color of the stripe for the bottom of the card, she quickly selected the color green before clicking to move onto the next page.
This was the hard part, the bio. ‘Challenger Gloria was endorsed by the Champion Leon, and she hopes to make it through the whole challenge to prove it was a good decision to endorse her.’ She wanted to stop there, what else was there to say, before Victor had the chance to see what she had typed on the screen she confirmed it so the machine would begin printing the cards.
Once they were all printed she walked over to where Hop was waiting for the twins, so they could go grab dinner before leaving to officially begin their journey.